For A Little Spirit
by Kimiko Heroux
Summary: A xmas Tamers oneshot I threw together in a couple days - thats right, I'm back baby! - Shirai has a problem with xmas festivities and so Jeri schemes to get her into the spirit. Pairing: OCxHenry


**I apologize for not updating anything for a very, very long time. There was a point that I didn't want to write in any of my fanfictions anymore and so I momentarily quit. But don't worry, I've begun writing again and I promise updates for my two running fanfictions as soon as I can.**

**But now, I decided to write some Christmas oneshots, this one being for my Tamers fanfiction. There's a ton of Jenrai-ness in it (for those who don't know/remember it's an OCxHenry pairing), of which was my main goal in it. It takes place after my in-progress fic, no specific time, though, maybe a year if that. I didn't exactly plan out the details.**

**I'll also have a 02 oneshot and a Yugioh GX oneshot on the way, although I may not get those finished until a few days after Christmas, despite them having Christmas themes. I decided to start them a bit late and this is the cost here.**

**Well, anyway, this is my Tamers Christmas oneshot and I hope you enjoy it. Merry Christmas!**

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For A Little Spirit

"Rai, don't you just love this time of year? The snow falling, all the holiday music, the beautiful decorations, the cheer and happiness that everyone shares; all of it makes it seem like something from out of a story, like a fairytale!"

Jeri Katou bounded quickly down the icy sidewalk towards me with her brown eyes sparkling with excitement, her mouth curved upward into a big grin that was almost as big as Kazu's ego, and her long, lavender stocking hat with a big puffball on the end bouncing along behind her, the untied strings on it waving along. Evidence showed that she was in the same state that most of the other Tamers currently were: High off of the Christmas Spirit.

My bare hands shoved in my coat pockets, I frowned at her words and liveliness. "No, not especially. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of the cold," I replied, breathing out and watching my breath appear in misty, white puffs that reminded me heavily of fog, making me involuntarily shudder. "Or the ice…or the snow…anything that prevents me from running." I was very particular about my training regimen, especially when it involved anything that could obstruct it.

"Oh, don't be a Scrooge!" She pulled a Santa hat out of one of her pockets and plopped it on my head. "There! Don't you feel the Christmas Spirit already?" She smirked in triumph of her hardly notable accomplishment.

"Too bad. I'll be whatever I feel like. And no, I don't feel it. All I feel is annoyed." I pulled off the hat, shoved it into her hands, and walked off. Christmas wasn't really a holiday that I felt too merry. I couldn't find a good reason to be happier than any other day of the year, and honestly, that fact that everyone could be affected in the same, stereotypical way every year, that same date just because it was merely, in a sense, tradition almost annoyed me. I wasn't sure why it got to me after a while, but it was just so.

And because of this attitude I had, what I hadn't known at this particular moment in time, was those opinions I had on such a holiday immediately sent Jeri into action. She wasn't too certain as to what to do, and whenever this happened, she went to the one she went to with of her issues, my cousin, Takato Matsuki. And since he had no ideas on this matter, which was really no surprise, he called up the person that he always went to with his problems (of which usually happened to be girl problems; he just doesn't get us), Henry Wong. But as luck would have it, as it normally happened, his little sister Suzie picked up. And because of his inexperience with both girls and little kids (which don't make a good combination for that poor little tomato), he managed to get hung up on by the pink-haired girl several times (all because she thought he was angry) before she got tired of hearing the sound of the phone constantly ringing and had someone else pick it up, raving about something having to do with needing a shrink.

But they eventually got everything sorted out. Though Suzie didn't get the shrink she wanted. Or at least I don't think so.

And apparently, this all occurred on my walk back to the Matsuki's bakery, where I had been staying for the last long while. And somehow, Jeri managed to beat me back to my own house. God knows how, I sure didn't. But during my walk, she had somehow managed to get to my house, talked to Takato with all of the latter all occurring, and then out without a trace. I had to hand it to that girl; she would make a pretty dang good spy. Or at least really good at cheating on her spouse without getting caught.

When I had gotten back to my place (of which by the above seems like it took awhile to get there; I didn't even mention where I was O.O), I walked in to the room to see Takato with a Santa hat on his head (does _everyone _have one of these?) putting up Christmas decorations all over the place. His red dinosaur-like partner Guilmon was trying to eat one of the shepherds in a nativity scene of the birth of Christ. Not exactly the holiday treat I would've gone for. Though that was the least of my worries. The thing that caught my attention was that I didn't see my own partner Salamon.

"Hey, Rai, you're just in time! I got out all the Christmas decorations! Wanna help? Guilmon might try to eat the tinsel, it's something to see!" He grinned, but I saw immediately that it was a fake smile. I could see he just wanted me to get into the spirit of the holiday. Though he really did get excited when, after several rather pathetic throws, got the colorful Christmas lights to hook onto a couple of nails over the doorframe. "Bull's-eye baby!"

I groaned at his festiveness and overexcitement. "I'll pass, Tomato. Where's Sal?" I questioned, getting right to my point of my current wonderings. When my Digimon wasn't in sight, it was never a good thing to be running around in perpetual unawareness of her current location and state. Because even after everything that had happened, she had long since gone back to her original way of life of sarcasm, teasing, torment, and Edward Cullen obsessiveness.

Following him into the kitchen, I watched him take a chunk out of a Christmas cut-out cookie that was once shaped like reindeer and now was over half gone and in a pool of saliva in his mouth. "Went to Henry's. Said something about wanting to spike their eggnog." He hailed me with chunks of flying cookie as he spoke, which was almost a regular event that happened primarily at breakfast when he decided to eat leftover bread and pastries that hadn't sold the previous day.

"Oh, dear God…I better go…save Henry." I headed out the door and made my way quickly down the street towards the Wong's apartment building, a tall, expensive apartment that had so many levels that I never could imagine making a sandwich with that many layers. It took me forever to remember the level and apartment number they lived in; there were just too many numbers involved. So I had to convince myself to remember it with little mind games and techniques such as writing it on my hand.

I knocked on their apartment door, jiggled the doorknob, and finding it unlocked, let myself inside. I had become such a regular that they started just to care less when I came and went, which I did pretty much whenever I felt like. And when I entered, I found boxes and boxes of holiday crap strewn about, most of the stuff out of the box and sitting all around them. In the middle of this whole disaster, was none other than Suzie, probably the whole reason this had occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Wong had a way of conceding to almost anything she begged for, just that little girl charm she had with her big, round eyes and her high-pitched voice. And then there was the tantrums she threw when she didn't get her way; those probably sealed the deal right there.

"Hey, Suz!" I closed the door behind me and maneuvered my way around all of the Christmas stuff covering the floor towards a chair that I had thought was free for my taking though soon found it was taken by boxes stacked up on top of each other that I was far too lazy to move. Still, I found no Salamon, but since my cousin had said she was going for the eggnog, I was assuming she was in the kitchen. I would deal with her later.

"Shiwai!" She jumped up to her feet and threw herself at my legs in effort to hug them. "Mewwy eawly Cwistmas!" Out of all of the Tamers that I had seen thus far since December had begun, she had been the one the most affected by the upcoming holiday. And all holidays, this one far more so, made her downright hyper.

I tried to hide my annoyance by faking a small laugh. "You too, Kiddo. Hey, where's Henry?" It surprised me that Suzie hadn't forced her older brother to help her go through all of the decorations and put them all out, unless he was actually hiding from her so he wouldn't have to. That thought slightly amused me: Henry curled up in a ball under his bed and making his bunny partner Terriermon stand guard and make sure that the coast was clear.

"He's in the closet, getting out Cwistmas decowations for me!" She beamed, showing off all over her white teeth and the gap where one used to be. Right in the front it used to be. She was so excited when she got that quarter for it.

"Okay, thanks, Kiddo." I pried her off of my legs and made my way over down the hallway towards the bedrooms. But instead of going in one of the said rooms, I turned and opened the door to the closet, stepping in to see one sexy bluenette standing on a step ladder reaching for a box with one hand, and with the other, holding the boxes on top of it steady. He looked very focused on his current task, putting the kind of attention he applied to everything he did. That observation of his distraction made me smile.

His current location and position gave me an idea. I quietly shut the door without a sound and got in position to watch the show. I got directly behind him, turned my head upward towards his ear, prepared to get out of the way quickly, and then shouted, "Hey, Henry!"

As I was hoping, my sudden appearance scared the crap out of him, he let out a small yell and let go of the boxes. They tumbled down on top of him and knocked him off the ladder onto the floor. He let out a loud, pained groan from within the tomb of boxes. He raised his head out with a frown on his face that faded as soon as he noticed who was standing over him. "Oh, hey Rai." His face brightened up and his beautiful grey eyes shined like the snow sparkling in the sun's rays. "Wanna help me up here?"

I laughed as I picked up a few boxes and stacked them up in the corner. Henry got up onto his feet as I did so, collecting his bearings and flipping his bangs over to their proper place in such a manner that was almost scarily similar to the way Justin Bieber did. "Suzie wanted to put some decorations out. Wanna be part of the fun?" His voice lacked all of the emotion that his words appeared to have, in a manner that revealed that he was being sarcasm.

I sat down on the step ladder and frowned at his offer, a silent decline. "Not my thing. Christmas isn't exactly one of the times I'm all merry and crap. That's normally when Easter comes around and I get too much candy than what is healthy for a sane nature."

His gaze averted to look me straight in the face. "Why's that?" Whatever was confronted him, whether scientific, unknown to all others, technological, or personal, he always inquired to find the answers. It was his curiosity that was one of his strongest qualities. But the only problem that I had was my reluctance to talk about myself. I didn't like to talk about my own problems, and even though it was him I was talking to, it made things hardly any different.

I rested my chin upon my palms and stared straight forward, past Henry, at the door I had previously shut. I pondered momentarily, thinking about how I should word me feelings of how I thought of the Christmas spirit of being rather demeaning and without proper reasoning for the extra glee and celebration. So I decided to answer his question with a question of my own. "…What is the deal with Christmas?" To this, he gave me a weird look. "I mean, why does it get more propaganda and so much extra thought compared to all the other holidays? It just doesn't make sense why people spend all their money on gifts, write all this cliché music about snow and fat guys in red, and then there's the decorations, those annoy me the most. Everything in the blinkie lights and the stuff in the yards, the trees all decorated, what the diddly? Who the heck came up with this?"

"Well, do you want the religious beginning or the modern tradition beginning you were just raving about?" This was about the point when I began to give him a look that told him just to shut up about the details. He complied after a few moments of my silence. "…Would it be so wrong to have a little Christmas spirit? For me?" That there was my one weakness, when he asked me to do things for him. And it didn't take him long to figure it out, either.

But this time I tried not to change my Christmas-y views just because of his request. "The other Tamers set this up, didn't they? It was Jeri, wasn't it! Man, she's good…" I moved my head from the door to him. "Though I'd rather not. I'm not in the mood."

To this response of mine, he smiled slightly. He reached into the stray box that he was originally trying to get out, digging around in there, until he pulled out some fake mistletoe. "Maybe this will get you into the Christmas spirit…" He held it over our heads and leaned in. He pressed his soft lips on mine. It was that moment of bliss that I always eagerly awaited for, when everything seems to heat up and static flows from my head down to my toes and then back up again. It was light and sweet, yet firm and assuring, factors that defied themselves, yet at the same time, completed each other like Yin and Yang. I could feel my heart pulsating from one touch, that one connection that brought us together. It was like ribbon. One strand can tie two different units together into one, binding hearts together into one that beats in melodies and rhapsodies better than any music.

This was the sort of moment when time seemed to stop, halt in waiting for us. Yet at the very same time, it seemed to go all too quickly, one connection ending too soon after its beginning. And this proved I was just too gullible when it came to his little suggestions; whenever he'd break it off and gasp for breath, he'd leave me pleading in my eyes for more. Just another kiss, another taste of his sweet lips, another touch of his fingers running through my bangs and tucking the strands behind my ear. He had a way of setting my world ablaze, keeping me on my toes in eagerness for more of him. And he enjoyed seeing that begging look on my face, just the idea that he could do that to a person without much effort on his part gave him pleasure.

I stared into his deep, endlessly silver eyes, biting my lip as we both stood catching our breath. "Well, that…makes my holiday a little merrier," I admitted in a quiet tone, feeling my face heat up at the action of being subject of the smile that appearing on his face and causing me to shift my gaze away to prevent a weird feeling of embarrassment. "But can you tell me something quick?" He awaited my request, his attention momentarily caught by my question. I instantly found myself smirking. "Have I been naughty or nice?"

He laughed at my dirty question, throwing the mistletoe over his shoulder in order to put his hands on my face. "Sorry, I don't do that." I knew from the start he was rather old school with such things, preferring to take things gentle and slow. I actually liked his method; when I said things like I just had, I knew he wouldn't go for it, and honestly, I was merely jerking his chain, just so I can hear his voice in some sort of tone of smugness that he would normally not use in everyday conversation. Although when we were like this, I found that Henry was hardly ever like the one I knew. It brought out this new side to him that was just, in many ways indescribable, just…different.

"Then what _do_ you do?" I ran my fingers through his silky hair, going up on my tippy toes so that I was almost eye-to-eye with him. One of my favorite pastimes was gazing into his eyes. They were shiny like diamonds, the hue of platinum, perpetually mesmerizing. Like a never-ending void into everlasting loveliness. I knew that when I went through all of the ways to describe him in my head, I sounded like such a love-obsessed schoolgirl, but words automatically formed in my head, countless ways and pictures to describe him appeared so quickly.

"I think you know already, but—" I stopped him, growing very impatient very rapidly.

I slid my fingers over his lips to cease his speaking. "Momentai, Henry—" I couldn't resist using Terriermon's word. It grows on you. "—I don't need an answer to every question I ask. Besides, you'd be better off showing me just what you had in mind. Capiché, sexy bluenette?" The name that Salamon had given him the first day I saw him had always lingered with me. It had remained ever since she blurted out those four out of the ordinary words, 'Who's the sexy bluenette?' and I found it ever-so fitting for him. Simple and cute, just like he was.

He chuckled at the remark. "Capiché." He leaned in towards my lips.

But before anything more could happen, the door swung open quickly, catching us both off-guard, and we instantly saw a confused Suzie standing in the doorway along with Henry's oldest sister Jaarin, who looked equally vexed. I was out of excuses, so I put it upon Henry's shoulders to think of something quick like he normally did. After all, there comes a time when people know me long enough and realize I'm not good with thinking fast.

And luckily, the bluenette did have something in mind. "See? Right there." He pointed at his nose and I got the message after a small delay and the quiet clearing of his throat as a gesture that meant 'say something, stupid'.

"Oh, I see it now! It's a blackhead!" I might've overdone it with enthusiasm, but at least it was enough to get one if not both of them convinced. Because it was one thing that we were in a closet alone, but being caught making out in it was another. And Jaarin has been known to be love-obsessed, and so any news of that whatsoever and it'd be known to everyone within the Tokyo limits within a week. It was hard to say how, but all I knew was she had a lot of connections.

In response to my excuse, Henry gave me a strange look, probably wondering where I had gotten that from. I would've wondered as well if I wasn't being stared down by his two sisters. Jaarin was probably debating whether or not to believe us, and Suzie was probably asking us in her head what was taking so long with the Christmas decorations she had originally sent us out to get. In all honesty, I had totally forgotten about that ever since I was…distracted.

"Hey, Rai." Jaarin briefly glanced at me in recognition, and I gave her a slight smile and a nod in return. She then turned and looked at her younger brother. "Suzie just wanted to know what was keeping you, Henry." She flashed a single expression like she knew what we were doing, but as soon as it appeared, it was gone, so it was hard to be sure. It was something I quickly disregarded, figuring that I had just been merely mistaken and misread her face.

"Oh, sorry, Suzie." He bent over to pick up the box that had been his whole reason for coming in here in the first place and then walked with the littlest of the siblings past Jaarin back into the living room to decorate the apartment as was the original intention of this whole event, making up an excuse as he went along as to why he was gone for so long, beginning with the boxes hailing on top of him of which actually was surprisingly true.

I had assumed that as soon as that was settled, the mauve-haired sister would've left to do whatever was occupying her beforehand, but instead, she crossed her arms and leaned her weight against the doorframe, smiling at me in such a way that almost scared me. "You guys are so cute together. You keep everything so private and secretive; you're like Romeo and Juliet!" She smile changed to be very bright, in a way that reminded me of Jeri. They were so similar it was almost scary. "…Or Edward and Bella!"

I frowned, not wanting to talk about things that were supposed to be personal that she was about to blow wide into the public. "Do you have a point behind that statement?" I questioned, but then deciding to add before the moment to say something was over and then I'd have to deal with it more than once, "And don't ever compare us to _Twilight_. It's just…too wrong."

She scowled in return of my face, making it like a mirror to mine, though she just ignored my comment about _Twilight_. "No, not really. Just saying. Though I should say, Salamon's in the kitchen if you were looking for her." _Oh crud, I forgot…_

I decided to go see what exactly she had done to the perfectly good food to make them so imperfect and poisonous. "Oh thanks, I should probably check on her." I breezed past Jaarin and made my way to the kitchen. "…and see what she has destroyed…"

I entered the room and looked around. Everything seemed halfway normal, although with Salamon, I couldn't be sure, especially when it was like now and she wasn't in plain sight. "Sal?" I looked around and peered into the refrigerator. Pulling out the eggnog, I took a quick swig from the jug. I tasted no alcohol in it, so I assumed Takato must have heard wrong or something. "You in here? If you are, you should at least say something. You know I scare easy." I put the eggnog back and walked around the kitchen, scanning the room for any signs of my Digimon.

"Yeah, I do!" She scared the crap out of me by jumping out of a cabinet with frosting covering her face, causing me to scream in surprise. She jumped onto a counter where a bunch of cut-out cookies were sitting alongside a couple bowls of homemade, multicolored frosting, which I assumed to be the same frosting that was on her face. "Heyya, Rai! Guess what! I'm frosting holiday cookies! They get you really buzzed! I've had like a million of them!"

I put my finger in a bowl of frosting and licked it off as a sampling of what was exactly in the frosting, if it was the typical recipe of milk and powdered sugar, or if Salamon found some other way to make it on some cooking channel. "So this is what you put the alcohol in…" I looked at all of the bowls and all of the already frosted cookies. "Did you spike all of them?"

She shrugged as if she had simply no idea. And depending on just how many cookies she had already eaten, she might not have. "More or less!" She laughed while bounding out of the room, making me decide I didn't want to really eat any of the cookies. Though it was probably a good idea if I followed her to make sure she didn't reek any unnecessary havoc. Although that was just a given; for her to not even create any was irregular, it didn't even occur when she was sick.

"Sal, you really know how to do something up well, don't you?" I groaned, following her into the living room. But much to my surprise, the whole room was already nicely decorated, no decorations on the floor like they were the last time I had been in there, with the absence of only a Christmas tree. And as soon as I had entered in, I realized not just the Wong siblings were in there, but also the other Tamers, who gathered there so secretively that I hadn't even heard anyone. "Okay, what the heck is this?" I crossed my arms, realizing I had been played like a puppet in a play the entire time.

"Merry Christmas, Rai!" Jeri exclaimed, beaming her bright smile. She was obviously the mastermind behind it all, the puppeteer in this whole thing. She probably even planned out a play-by-play as to how Henry was to distract me. I wouldn't have put it past her for a single second.

Rika, who was sitting on the arm of a chair that Takato was in, read my face completely. "Hey, before you say anything, just know I had no part in this whatsoever." She had her arms folded, though there was still a pleased look on her face as Takato chuckled at her excuse. She was probably rather pleased that she taught Jeri so well to plan schemes such as this, and probably even more so that I had walked right into it so blindly. I had guessed right about her setting it up that I helped with decorations, but I didn't think far enough on the matter.

"And I wasn't even allowed to help! Can you believe that, Cupcake?" Kazu jumped to his feet in protest of his exclusion in this. He was so fired up about it that it was almost scary. "Won't even let me do anything with my girl!"

I laughed slightly, but said instead in an emotionless tone, "Tragedy, Kazu…tragedy…"

Jeri decided to get back on topic, just in case Kazu decided to make a big production out of this whole thing. And honestly, I was glad that she did. The littler he spoke, the better off things would be. "So did we change your mind about anything?" She gave a look of expectation, like she was already expecting one specific answer.

I shrugged, a smile beginning to form on my face. "It wasn't exactly a 'we' kind of accomplishment…" I admitted, shooting a glance over at Henry for a split-second, fast enough that no one but him even noticed. And that single glance made me realize what he had been wearing. Brown pants with a pleasant green sweater **[A/N the clothes he wore in an ep or two in the mid-40s]**. It gave me the best idea that I had all day, one that almost made me laugh out loud at the thought. "Henry, can you come here a minute?"

He seemed to be caught off-guard by my sudden request, but complied, and I took his hand, leading him back into the closet. I heard snickers as we exited (and some complaints from Kazu), but I ignored them, knowing that this wasn't something they weren't going to expect this time. Heck, even Henry'll be surprised up until the time it actually occurs. And I was sure at that moment he had some thoughts that weren't correct, he wasn't gonna be able to guess.

I closed the door behind us and I set up the step ladder next to the shelves. Climbing up, I began to dig around until I came across a string of lights. I smiled proudly at them as I climbed back down and said to Henry, "Today, you shall be more than just a sexy bluenette."

He looked at me and then at the lights. "What?" It suddenly clicked. "Are you serious?"

I grinned at him. "Completely."

Minutes passing, we walked back into the room, and I held out my arms in a presenting sort of manner as Henry walked in behind me wrapped up in the Christmas lights. I proclaimed out, "You can't forget Christmas tree! It's a sin!"

Jeri, realizing what exactly I had just said, jumped up onto her feet and hugged me. "Rai! I knew you'd get into it! Isn't it fun to have the Christmas spirit?" She was probably at the edge of jumping up and down in her excitement; she was hyped up so much, I would've thought that she had eaten Salamon's cookies. Though I wouldn't have doubted it if she had. With the rate of which she got everything organized and done that day, she probably would've had time to spare and eat them.

I peeled her off of me and then looked up to Henry, who was giving me a rather annoyed expression in return. I smiled at him and put my arm around him to pull him against me so I could rest my head against his form. "It has its perks…"


End file.
